Dylan McGrath
EE Times
Chip makers Texas Instruments Inc. and Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) have each abandoned attempts to acquire rival Maxim Integrated Products Inc. after failing to come to agreement with Maxim on price, according to a report by the Bloomberg news service.
The report, which cites unnamed sources said to be familiar with the negotiations, said Maxim was not intent on selling, but would have considered any offers that included a large premium over the company’s market capitalization, which stood at more than $10 billion at the start of trading Friday (Jan. 8).
A spokeswoman for Maxim declined to comment on the report, citing company policy against commenting on rumors.
Bloomberg originally reported in October that both TI and ADI separately approached Maxim to discuss potential mergers.
Maxim’s stock price declined by nearly 6% Friday after Bloomberg reported that negotiations with both TI and ADI had broken off.
Maxim has in recent months sold off two wafer fabs – an 8-inch fab in Texas that bought by Apple for $18 million.
“Maxim has been selling off everything in sight, including their fabs,” said Will Strauss, president of market research firm Forward Concepts Inc.
But Strauss said Maxim still has attractive technology and doesn’t necessarily need to be an acquisition target. “The one thing they do very, very well is power control chips. And that’s a very desirable thing to have,” Strauss said.
Strauss said Maxim also has some good RF technology that it acquired a couple of years ago that it has yet to bring to market. “So they’ve got, shall we say, some hidden talents,” he said.
Strauss speculated that Maxim’s recent asset sales could be an effort to make itself leaner and more acquirable or boost its stock price or “get some cash to maybe do some acquiring of its own.”
